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conference

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

conférence

C

ORGANISATION DES NATIONS UNIES POUR L'ALIMENTATION ET L'AGRICULTURE

C 83/II/PV/1

conferencia

ORGANIZACION DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS PARA LA AGRICULTURA Y LA ALIMENTACION


Twenty-second Session
COMMISSION II

Vingt-deuxiéme session
COMMISSION II

22° período de sesiones
COMISION II

FIRST MEETING
PREMIERE SEANCE
PRIMERA REUNION

(8 November 1983)

The First Meeting was opened at 10.00 hours,
C. Ntsane, Chairman of Commission II, presiding

La premiére séance est ouverte à 10hours.sous la présidence
de C. Ntsane, Prérsident de la Commission II


Se abre la primera reunión a las 10.0 horas,
bajo la presidencia de C. Ntsane, Presidente de la Comisión II

CHAIRMAN: Distinguished Delegates, I call to order the first meeting of Commission II of the Twenty-second session of the Conference of FAO. In this Commission representatives of Member Nations are going to analyse and consider the Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85 along with all other items assigned to this Commission, as mentioned in Part II of the Agenda of the Conference.

The Council's recommendations on most of these subjects are the outcome of long and arduous work which began with the preparation of documentation by the Secretariat. The documents were then analysed and considered by committees and intergovernmental committees including the Programme and Finance Committees. These committees in turn submitted the results of their deliberations on the Programme of Work and Budget of the Organization for consideration of the FAO Council. What we have before us for consideration is a product of work done over the past two years in preparation for the next two years. The level and quality of these documents, coupled with the seriousness with which each item was dealt with at every stage, has been exemplary and has set the tempo of the seriousness with which this Conference Commission has to treat the various subjects.

I should like to stress the thoroughness, in particular, of the Programme Committee as it sought to present to Member Nations a reasonably comprehensive and yet practically feasible and austere Programme of Work and Budget to assist them in their individual and collective endeavour to tackle problems of poverty, hunger and under-development. I enjoin you to demonstrate appreciation and gratitude to the Programme Committee and its auxiliary committees and bodies. The Finance Committee should be commended for adding a dimension of economy to the Programme in an imaginative fashion that, however, took careful account of the current world-wide economical constraints.

By the same token, tribute should be paid to the FAO Council for the sensible way in which it strove to facilitate the work of the Conference by formulating well-balanced recommendations.

What is now left is for these three parties to discharge final responsibilities in the planning and programming process. First, the Member Nations here represented should give further and final guidance on how they wish to see their needs and aspirations translated into effective actions. I happen to be aware of the anxiety of the Secretariat to fully satisfy the wishes of the principles of this Organization, but this can only happen if Member Nations themselves issue clear, well thought out and unequivocal instructions.

Secondly, the Secretariat should respond to the queries and demands of Member Nations in an open-minded and pragmatic fashion but should be prepared to tackle criticisms with courage, and guidance with honesty and loyalty, as all will be said in a spirit that seeks to achieve meaningful results. There is no rivalry or trickery and therefore there should be no confrontation either between the Secretariat and Member Nations or among Member Nations themselves; but there should prevail amicable consultation and mutual guidance for the benefit especially of the hungry and desolate who, with tears in their eyes, await the decisions of this world body on their fate. In that event, when this has been done, mine will be an easy task: to ensure that all act and speak in a manner that will allow Ministers of Agriculture to take positive and responsible decisions which they came here to take.

Before concluding, I should like to turn to some housekeeping issues. First, it is my honour and pleasure to welcome to this Commission the two Vice-Chairmen, Dr Ján Schwarz, Permanent Representative of Czechoslovakia to FAO, and Mr Salmon Padmanagara, Director-General of Agricultural Research and Development of Indonesia. I am confident that with their able support and guidance we should all be able to achieve the primary objectives of living up to the standards of integrity of all the people who did the preparatory work for all our deliberations.

I am grateful and greatly honoured to welcome in our midst representatives of new members of the Organization and hope to benefit from their as yet unbiased views. I wish to draw attention of the meeting to Appendix D of document C 83/12 and suggest that we endeavour to keep the number of resolutions to the minimum. For the benefit of participants, document C 83/INF/12 provides a check-list of documents for the various items. It will always be helpful to pay careful attention to the Order of the Day which is issued at the documents desk.

In conclusion, I take this opportunity to express the gratitude and sincere appreciation of my people and the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho as well as my own for the honour bestowed and confidence shown by Member Nations of FAO to them through me to guide the deliberations of this Commission which deals in the lifeblood of our Organization. In particular, I wish to thank my African brothers whom, in a sense, I represent; and in the African spirit I invite you all to endeavour to arrive at decisions and conclusions by consensus.

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